The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

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Friday, April 19, 2013

Vatican
City, 19 April 2013
(VIS) – This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy
Father received in audience Mr. Rafael Correa Delgado, president of
the Republic of Equador. President Correa then met with the Secretary
of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., accompanied by
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

During
the talks, which were held in an atmosphere of cordiality, the
Catholic Church's significant contribution in the various sectors of
the country's social life and the importance of sincere and permanent
dialogue between the Church and the State to address fundamental
societal challenges were discussed.

Then,
the centrality of social justice and the value of solidarity and
subsidiarity in seeking the common good were emphasized. Finally,
issues regarding current events in the region, respect for indigenous
peoples and their culture, as well as environmental protection were
treated.

Vatican
City, 19 April 2013
(VIS) – Beginning 3 May until the end of October (except during the
month of August) the Vatican Museums will host 21 evenings of music.
Every Friday the Museums will have special hours from 7:30pm until
11:00pm. During these special openings, the music of Brahms, Debussy,
Beethoven, Respighi, Piazzolla, Mendelssohn, and others will be
offered in the Rooms of Raphael, the Gregorian Museum, the terraces
of the Pinacoteca, or the Courtyard of the Pinecone in concerts
beginning at 8:30pm and lasting around an hour.

The
musical series, entitled “Beauty to be Heard” is the result of a
collaboration between the Vatican Museums, the Venaria Real (the
Royal Palace of Turin, Italy, a Baroque masterpiece declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site), and the Giuseppe Verdi National Conservatory of
Turin. The initiative was born of the conviction that the Museums and
the Venaria Real are not simply collections, architecture, history,
or culture from the past, but the ideal meeting place for all those
who want to transform art into a passion to be shared. In the "Room
of the Signatura" of Raphael's Stanze, two winged cupids in the
lunette above the Parnassus Wall—where Apollo, the god of Beauty
and Poetry, surrounded by the Muses representing all the Arts, plays
a lyre—bear signs reading “Numine afflatur”, inviting us to
contemplate that Art, in all its manifestations, is inspired by
divinity.

The
beauty of music and the beauty of the figurative arts go hand in
hand, Raphael says, portraying Apollo at the centre of his celestial
court. This unity is what the youth of the Giuseppe Verdi National
Conservatory wish to demonstrate in their Friday concerts at the
Vatican Museums. The initiative also includes Saturday performances
at the Venaria Reale during the summer months.

The
Vatican Museums administration has also provided for a series of
thematic guided visits on the musical iconography within the Museums.
The complete schedule of “Il Bello da Sentire” (Beauty to be
Heard) with the information regarding the places where the concerts
will take place and details of the guided “musical” visits is
available, in Italian, on the Vatican Museum website:
www.museivaticani.va.

Vatican
City, 19 April 2013
(VIS) – Today the Holy Father appointed Fr. Milan Lach, S.J., as
auxiliary of the Archeparchy of Presov for Catholics of Byzantine
rite (Catholics 123,373, priests 294, permanent deacons 2, religious
126), Slovak Republic. The bishop-elect was born in Kezmarok,
Slovakia in 1973 and was ordained a priest in 2001. Since ordination
he has served in several pastoral and academic roles, most recently
as vice dean for Foreign Relations and Development in the Theology
faculty of the University of Trnava, Slovakia. The Holy Father has
assigned him the Titular See of Ostracine.